Category: Online Store

The online store is a great tool for your organization to sell merchandise to the general public or throughout the organization. Whether using the Online Store as a retail-style storefront or as a fundraising tool, it can be a valuable part of your organization.

Creating an online store
To start an online store, go to Admin > Tools > Online Store. Initially, you will be brought to the store's Settings tab. Here you can deinfe the basic settings for your store.

There are four different administration menu choices for the Online Store: Settings, Products, Orders, and Preview.

Settings
The Settings section of the Online Store is the first step to setting up your store. We will enter some basic information about the store in this section.

Tab Placement

This drop down menu indicates which menu tab the online store is to be under. Any menu tab that has been set up for your site will be available except the Admin. page. Generally, if the store is available to the public or all members, it is placed under the "Association" tab.

Menu Title

This is the name that will appear on the menu choices to the left of your screen. The name entered here will also appear at the top of the store's page.

Description

The information entered in this field will appear at the top of the online store's page. This should be a brief description of the store. Generally the description includes information about the store, the types of items that are available in the store (equipment, apparel, etc.) and optionally a slogan. This is an optional field.

Invoice Note

The information entered in this text box will display at the bottom of the customer's payment receipt.

Public

This box should be checked if the online store is to be visible to the public. This box can be unchecked to hide the store from the general public while you are testing it.

Open Dates

This option allows you to specify a date range when the store should open and close. Be sure to have the Public option selected when using these, so the store will appear on your site during this date range. Leave this field blank to always have your store open.

Email Purchase information to

This is the email address of the responsible party for the store. Generally, this is the person responsible for shipping and/or inventory management. More than one email address can be entered if separated by a colon or semicolon.

Shipping Methods

In this field you may add a new shipping method by selecting the "Add" button. In the resulting window, enter the type of shipment (next day, ground, etc) in the "Name" field and the cost associated with shipping. In the "Store Items" section , you can assign a shipping price for each item. In this case, the base cost field should be left blank.

If you have already entered a shipping method, you may edit or delete the existing entry by highlighting the choice and selecting the corresponding button. Optionally you can move an existing entry up or down on the choice list with the same procedure.

If your site does not ship out any products, this field may be left blank

Shipping Policy

Generally, this pertains to how quickly the product will be shipped out. The shipping policy will be displayed along with the availability status on the product's description page.

Sales Tax by State

In this section you have three choices: "Add" a new state, "Edit" an previously added state, or "Delete" a previously entered state. To add a new state, select the "Add" button. On the resulting window, enter the state and the appropriate tax rate. The "Edit" feature can be used by highlighting the previously entered state on the menu and selecting "Edit" (the resulting screen will be the same as the "Add" selection.) Remember that your organization only needs to collect tax in the state in which they are located, so only enter the sales tax rate for the home state's) of your organization. It is up to each site to determine the applicability of sales tax in your state.

Merchant Accounts

If you are accepting credit card payments, check the box of the corresponding Merchant Account or Pay Pal account that you wish to use. If any updates need to be made to your merchant account, such as updating your "M_Key" or Transaction Key, those changes must be made in the "Merchant Account" section of the Administration area.

Return Policy

Enter your online store's return policy, such as "All sales are final" or "Returns made for store credit only."

Store Items
After you have setup the online store's properties, you are now ready to stock the shelves. This is done in the "Store Items" section. In this section, you will be able to add new items to your store, as well as edit and delete existing items from the store. Once you've selected the "Store Items" selection, the resulting window will give you the option to "Add a new item." Once you have added items to the store, two additional choices: edit an existing item (the to the left of the item) and delete an existing item (the icon to the right of the item) will be available. When adding or editing an item, a form with the following fields will appear:

Name

The name of the item you are adding or editing.

Item ID

This is a number that you can assign to identify the item such as a model number or SKU number.

Inventory

The resulting window for this choice will allow you to enter the "Quantity in stock" of the item. The store will countdown the quantity as the items are sold, When the "Quantity in stock" reaches zero, you can select to have "Sold Out" or "Backordered" displayed as the status. If this is an item that the store will continually stock, "Backordered" should be selected.

Public

Check this box if you would like this item to be available to the general public. This box can be unchecked to hide the item from the general public while testing.

Full Description

Enter a complete description of the item in the text box. You can use the WYSIWYG editing features to customize your text.

Tagline

A very brief description of the item. This field will appear under the item's name on the store's homepage.

Picture File

This field is used if you wish to upload a picture of the item. You can optionally enter the file path of the photo on your computer or browse your computer for a picture file. The picture you upload should be the full size version. The store will automatically create a thumbnail size image that the user will be presented with and can click on to access a full size version.

Caption

This a brief description or phrase located under the photo.

Option Groups

This field is used to set your selections such as size, color and style. First, enter the option (size, color, etc.) you wish to define choices for under the "Prompt" column. Next, click the "Edit" button. On the resulting window, there will be choices to "Add" a new choice, "Edit" an existing choice, or "Delete" an existing choice.

On the resulting window of "Add" or "Edit", you can enter the choice (small, medium, large, etc.). The Value field is an optional name for your choice. For example, if you were entering extra large as a size, XL could be substituted for the full name when inserted into the database. The "Extra cost" field should be entered only if an additional charge is applied for the choice. If there is no additional charge, leave this field blank. The "Selected" box, if checked, will make the choice the default choice.
Repeat these steps, for each choice.

Prompt for more information

This will allow you to enter a question or prompt that your customer can answer. For example, is the item being purchased will be embroidered with their number, your prompt may be "Number."

Pricing

These choices are used to enter the price of the actual item, the shipping cost for the item, and discounts for bulk purchases (if any apply):

Unit Price
This is the price of the item. If an amount was added in the "Extra cost" field in the Option groups, the amount will be totaled in the customer's cart.

Shipping cost
Enter the cost for shipping the item. If you have multiple shipping options, there will be multiple options. This field will override the base shipping cost entered in the "Shipping methods" section. If you wish to use the base shipping cost, leave this field blank.

Discount Schedule
This table is used only if the store is to offer discounts for multiple purchases. If no discount is available, leave this table blank. First, enter the quantity at which the bulk discount will start. Next, enter the discount rate to apply to the bulk purchase. You can choose to discount by percentage or by a fixed dollar amount. For example, if you wish to offer a 10% discount on purchases of five or more of an item, enter "5" in the "Qty" column and "10" in the "%" column.

Shipping Policy

Enter this field only if you wish to override the entry made in the "Shipping Policy" section in "Properties". If you wish to use the standard policy you have already set, leave this field blank. If there is a special policy that pertains only to this item, give a brief description of the policy in this field.

Return Policy

Enter this field only if you wish to override the entry made in the "Return Policy" section in "Properties" If you wish to use the standard policy you have already set, leave this field blank. If there is a special policy that pertains only to this item, give a brief description of the policy in this field.

List Purchases
This reports lists all purchases made in the store. The report can be sorted by date processed by clicking on the "Processed" heading, date ordered by clicking on the "Ordered" heading, or by customer name by clicking on the "Customer" heading. The box listed under the "Processed" heading can be checked by the administrator to help keep track of orders that have been processed and orders that still need to be completed. Also, the COD heading indicates the amount that is due on each order and totals those amounts at the end of the report.

Download Item Purchases
This report will create a csv spreadsheet for each item ordered through the online store. Information conatined in this report includes the First and Last Name of the purchaser, date purchased, item number, description, as well as all options and prompts for each item.

Reconcile Credit Card Payments
This report categorizes and totals credit card payments made to a merchant account within a specified time period. When this tool is selected, the resulting window will allow you to select the merchant account id from a drop down menu, and specify the time period with a start date and an end date. If the "Between dates" fields are left empty, the report is generated from the origination date of the merchant account to the current date. The report will categorize and total payments made for the store, as well as online registration and payments made to other online forms you have created. Optionally, the report can be printed by clicking the "Print" icon () at the top of the report page.